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Riot Games Shuts Down League of Legends on Mac

Studio says it wasn't able to update the Mac version to keep pace with PC.

Citing the inability to keep the Mac version of League of Legends up to its PC standards, Riot Games today shut down the Mac beta client for its multiplayer online battle arena game. The developer pledges to return LoL to Mac in the long run, but for the foreseeable future, League of Legends is once again a PC exclusive.

Posting on the official League of Legends forum, Riot said it has been unable to keep the Mac version in step with the PC game's rapid update cycle. Because the studio intended on sharing servers for the game between the two platforms, that update lag would have left the Mac version unavailable to play for extended periods.

"We realize our current approach regarding the Mac platform won't guarantee the quality and frequent updates we deliver today on the PC and are expected by our player community," Riot states. "We will continue to investigate the opportunity to provide player access on the Mac Platform in the future that aligns with our service and content update standards. We are committed to building a solution that will work on the Mac in the long run, but it will take some time."

Riot Games began working on a Mac version of League of Legends with TransGaming back in May of 2010. The studio originally planned to launch the full Mac version of the game in summer 2010. Riot officially pulled the plug at noon PST today.

The studio said that all League of Legends Mac players who spent money in the game's online store can either continue playing with all of their purchased champions and items in the PC version of the game or receive a full refund. Details on getting that refund are now being mailed out to all registered Mac players.

Sharkey says: There's always Boot Camp. And its good to know Riot plans on dealing out full refunds to all those Mac players out there that won't be making the transition to PC.